I noted this morning how the Arkansas press corps has a knack for turning out surprisingly readable endorsements. Another campaign staple that tends to be both unedifying and uninteresting, of course, is the debate write-up. But as it turns out, a debate was held Tuesday in the California GOP Senate primary, and the Los Angeles Times managed to come away with, if not exactly a detailed policy exegesis, at least a pretty good read—assisted, perhaps, by the debate’s talk-radio hosts, who apparently designated four eight-minute segments for “mudslinging.”
You can read the whole article here; I’ll just quote the conclusion (it helps to know that Chuck DeVore had earlier been needling Fiorina for failing to vote in the 2000 election):
Greg Marx is an associate editor at CJR. Follow him on Twitter @gregamarx.When it was Campbell’s turn to challenge Fiorina, he again returned to her spotty voting record. In one of the afternoon’s funniest exchanges, Campbell asked Fiorina whether she had voted for him when he unsuccessfully ran against Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2000.
Fiorina hesitated for a moment, then confessed: “No, I didn’t.”
DeVore chimed in: “I did!”
Campbell, who was seated between the two, turned to DeVore and pumped his hand.
“I didn’t vote for Dianne Feinstein, either,” Fiorina added.
